Three Saudi men found guilty of homosexuality and sexual assault were beheaded Tuesday in the conservative Muslim state, the interior ministry announced.

It said Attiya bin Ubaid Attiya, Rajeh bin Ibrahim Issa and Rajhi bin Hamad bin Ali were convicted of sodomy, transvestism and homosexual marriage in violation of Islamic laws, as well as of raping boys after giving them sleeping pills.

They were beheaded with a sword in the town of Abha in the southwestern province of Asir, raising to at least 65 the number of executions announced in Saudi Arabia since the start of the year.

The interior ministry also said that a Yemeni convicted of theft, Mohammed bin Moslah bin Mohammed, had his right hand amputated Tuesday. The sentence was carried out in Buraydah, a town northwest of Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia applies the Islamic sharia law, which prescribes amputating the right hand of thieves. If the amputee steals again, the left hand is sliced off.

A total of 26 amputations have been announced this year.

The Gulf Arab kingdom imposes the death penalty on people found guilty of murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery, drug trafficking and repeated drug offences, and administers lashing and stoning for adultery and floggings for alcohol consumption.

The Riyadh government has been criticized in a string of reports by the London-based Amnesty International, which has alleged defects in the Saudi criminal justice system and said the country has the highest level of executions in the world.

However, the kingdom insists Islamic law is the best guarantor of human rights -- RIYADH (AFP)